Why Japan's Biggest Mistake Was Attacking Pearl Harbor (And Destroyed Their Empire)

[rangerrebew]

Why Japan's Biggest Mistake Was Attacking Pearl Harbor (And Destroyed Their Empire)
 

One of history's biggest turning points.
 
It was, as the phrase goes, another perfect day in paradise. As the sun rose above the Pacific in the clear, cloudless sky east of the Hawaiian Islands, on December 7, 1941, the giant U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, was just beginning to stir.

At 6:30 am, USS Antares (AKS-3), a U.S. Navy stores and supply ship of more than 11,000 tons, was approaching the mouth of the inlet leading into Pearl Harbor towing a steel barge. On the bridge of Antares was her skipper, Commander Lawrence C. Grannis. He suddenly noticed an unexpected object about 1,500 yards off the starboard quarter, something that looked suspiciously like the conning tower of a submarine.

 
Source URL (retrieved on June 26, 2018): http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-japans-biggest-mistake-was-attacking-pearl-harbor-26364
 

[rangerrebew]

Adm. Nimitz felt the Japanese attack made three HUGE mistakes and the U.S. had been lucky:

They attacked on a Sunday when most of the sailors were not on their ships.  He said if they had attacked during the week, American would have lost 38,000 instead of 3,800.

They did not destroy the repair facilities right across the bay from the Arizona.  Had they done so, America would have had to tow each ship to California for repair.  This allowed the U.S. to make rapids repairs, even raising sunken ships.

They didn't attack the fuel storage facility on Oahu which held all the fuel for the Pacific Fleet.  This would  have been absolutely devastating.

[Restored]

The biggest mistake was attacking China which led to sanctions.

[Joe Wooten]

Their biggest mistake was attacking the US. We had more productive industrial capacity than all the rest of the world combined, and a most of it was sitting idle or only working one shift. We did not really get wound up until early 1944 and by Fall 1944, the government had to start cutting back on war orders because a huge surplus of munitions and equipment was starting to pile up. By then end in August 1945, so much had been made that the military operated on surplus for the entire Korean war a few years later.

[Free Vulcan]

Adm. Nimitz felt the Japanese attack made three HUGE mistakes and the U.S. had been lucky:

They attacked on a Sunday when most of the sailors were not on their ships.  He said if they had attacked during the week, American would have lost 38,000 instead of 3,800.

They did not destroy the repair facilities right across the bay from the Arizona.  Had they done so, America would have had to tow each ship to California for repair.  This allowed the U.S. to make rapids repairs, even raising sunken ships.

They didn't attack the fuel storage facility on Oahu which held all the fuel for the Pacific Fleet.  This would  have been absolutely devastating.

It's probably a good thing they didn't. I would have taken us a bit longer to come back, but when we did we probably would have anniliated them out of existence from the anger generated.

Addendum: My grandma died in '15 at the age of 96. She said when Pearl got attacked, people were shocked, scared, devastated. Then they got mad. Mad as bees. They wanted to absolutely lay waste to Japan.

The Japs need to count their lucky stars that they did no worse to us at Pearl, and that we had to fight a two front war. If not, I don't think Japan as we know it would exist today.